Nibbles

Nibbles: Urban bees, Borlaug, Cotton, Income, Mammals, Human disease, Caribou, Chestnut, IRRI

There are 227 bee species in New York City. Damn! But not enough known about the work they (and other pollinators) do in natural ecosystems, alas.
Borlaug home to be National Historic Site?
Archaeobotanist tackles Old World cotton.
FAO suggests ways that small farmers can earn more. Various agrobiodiversity options.
About 400 new mammal species discovered since 1993 (not 2005 as in the NY Times piece). Almost a 10% increase. Incredible. Who knew.
But how many of them will give you nasty diseases?
The caribou wont, I don’t think. And by the way, its recent decline is cyclical, so chill.
Saving the American chestnut through sex. Via the new NWFP Digest.
“The best thing IRRI can do for rice is to close down and give the seeds it has collected back to the farmers.” Yikes, easy, tiger! Via.

“Sahbhagi dhan is drought-tolerant and can survive even if there are no rains for 12 days.”
Keeping bees in cities. Not as crazy as it sounds.
More on the problems of the European bison. What is it with the BBC today?
Coffee berry borer coming to Kenya. Not boring at all.
Cassava helping Cameroonians and Ugandans.
ICRISAT pigeon pea a hit in Kenya.
Ugandan fishermen crying fowl. What is is with allAfrica today?
No trees were harmed in the making of this beef.
“How many of the changes we see happening around us are really attributable to climate change.” Pretty good question. In two parts, be sure to catch both, agrobiodiversity comes into the second.
How to get a date.
“By using museum specimens to look back in time, we can potentially assess … [human] impact in detail.” And genebanks, don’t forget genebanks, Olivia.
Organic better after all. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Fisheries not as bad as was thought after all. But still pretty bad.
For best results, use perennials in diverse landscapes and no tilling.

DNA survey of African village dogs reveals as much diversity as in East Asian village dogs, undermines current ideas about where domestication took place.
Fossil doubles age of dog domestication.
“When children felt like buying candy, they ran into their father’s fields and returned with a few grams of opium folded inside a leaf.”
“The rice, a traditional variety called kintoman, came from my grandfather’s farm. It had an inviting aroma, tasty, puffy and sweet. Unfortunately, it is rarely planted today.”
“An era of synthetic gums ushered in the near death of their profession, and there are only a handful of men that still make a living by passing their days in the jungle collecting chicle latex…The generational changes in this boom-and-bust lifestyle reflect a pattern that has occurred with numerous extractive economies…”
Morocco markets prickly pear cactus products.
TreeAid says that sustainable agriculture depends on, well, trees.

Pickling facts.
Trouble for the French oyster.
Grow-your-own hops.
Saving the coconut crab.
Korea launches website of traditional recipes. Looks great, but all in Korean, alas.
Our friend Karen Williams’ work on agrobiodiversity conservation in Ecuador highlighted.

Saving red rice in India. Note comment from Bhuwon.
India again: “We have not been able to sow rice. Our corn crop has been destroyed by pests. We have nothing to eat. We have nothing to feed our cattle.”
Morocco: “The farmers started using more subterranean water, but that has almost been used up, putting us on a straight line to desertification.” But, “[r]esearchers have also introduced new varieties of grain that in laboratory tests have proven resistant to water stress or drought.”
Another Slow Food interview. Zzzzzzzzzz.
Cuppa weird joe?
IITA and others save cassava in West Africa.
Nice photo essay on a thoroughbred stud farm.
Take the wheat quiz.
Where is our heirloom ketchup?